Texas is at the end of another COVID-19 surge. Is the state ready to handle it?

Houston, Texas-COVID-19 cases in parts of Texas forced some hospitals to place beds in corridors, intensive care units exceeded capacity, and health officials broke the virus Struggling to stop it surged to near catastrophic levels this summer.

After peaking in late July and August, cases declined and leveled off in September, with the state’s seven-day positive rate (percentage of positive tests) reaching its lowest level since early June. ..

But health officials are now looking at worrisome trends. New infections are on the rise again Number of inpatients COVID-19 is also facing up. The state reported 2,273 new cases on Monday, with a 7-day average up 862 from the previous week. At least 4,319 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday, well below the 10,000 in July, but that number has steadily increased during the last month.

“I’m not thinking about the surge anymore,” said Dr. James McDavid, director of clinical practice at Baylor College of Medicine. “We have already seen it.”

Eight months after Texas recorded the first case, experts say the state is ready to deal with another wave, but soon if the state fails to control the outbreak. I am concerned that it may be out of control.

“The question is, will it be a modest surge, something like what we saw in July, or something worse,” McDavid said.

According to McDavid, the majority of new cases these days are people in their 20s and 30s who are generally less likely to face healthy and serious complications. This is a change from the spring and summer surges that have hit the elderly and those in existing health the most.

“I don’t think this surge is as medically intensive as it used to be,” McDavid added.

Dr. David Persse, Houston City Chief Health Officer, said young demographic cases did not remain concentrated in the population.

“It’s true that the biggest increase in cases is in young people,” he said. “It’s true that they tend to be less ill, but keep in mind that those same people are at risk of spreading it to the ages of 50, 60, 70 and 80.”

At Houston Methodist, one of the region’s largest health systems, medical staff were lean this summer, President Markboom said. At its peak in July, system staff treated nearly 850 COVID-19 patients daily. Since then, Boom said the medical community’s understanding of the virus has evolved along with how to treat the disease.

The antiviral drug remdesivir has shown promising results in minimizing the severity of the disease, especially when given shortly after symptoms appear. According to Boom, Houston Medical was the first hospital to use convalescent plasma and is a treatment that administers antibody-rich blood from people who have recovered from COVID-19 to sick patients.

“We have gained a lot of experience, better results and shorter stays,” said Boom. “But this is still a serious illness.”

Health officials are better prepared to deal with the proper supply of protective equipment and new surges containing significant amounts of drugs like remdesivir, but the fall surge is still as much a burden on hospitals. May be, and advocacy, quality and public health of the Texas Hospital Association. She said the cold climate brings together people and families inside during the holiday season, increasing the likelihood of infection.

“We’ve certainly been tested, we know it’s a beast, and we’ve shown that we were able to pass the first two spikes,” Kroll said. “But I don’t want to put the patient in the hospital to test the limits.”

Hospitalization with COVID-19 has already begun to increase in areas of the state, including western Texas, the Dallas / Fort Worth area, and Panhandle. But nowhere is it as dire as El Paso.

According to city and state data, a record 496 people were hospitalized on Monday, with only 16 beds in the intensive care unit available at facilities in the El Paso, Hudspeth, and Culberson counties.El Paso Mayor Dimmergo Reduction of business capacity Last week it went from 75% to 50% and banned house gatherings. Governor Greg Abbott also sent an emergency team of doctors and nurses to assist local medical facilities.

“I’m worried about the hospital’s capacity,” said Angela Mora, director of health at El Paso, but said she was confident that the city could handle the influx of cases. Instead, authorities are focusing on alerting residents to follow simple precautions such as wearing masks in public, washing their hands frequently, and avoiding meetings.

“Someone said the pandemic was out of control,” Mora said. “We are out of control because we are not implementing preventative measures that actually work.”

Experts believe that this latest surge is partly due to “pandemic fatigue,” in which more and more people are ignoring precautions that help delay the virus.

“We know what works, and our community knows what works,” said Dr. Philip Juan, head of the Dallas County Health Department.

Last week, Judge Clay Jenkins of Dallas County raised the county’s coronavirus threat level to red. This shows that the community is large. Stephen Love, chairman of the Dallas / Fort Worth Hospital Council, said hospitals in the region are closely monitoring this trend and can quickly expand capacity.

In response to the increased hospitalizations in Amarillo and Lubbock, Abbott sent additional medical resources last week, including personnel, ventilators, and IV pumps. This also happened when patients with COVID-19 accounted for less than 15% of hospitalizations and the governor allowed the bar to reopen in parts of the state where local officials opt-in.

Local officials in most major cities have so far hesitated to lift the restrictions and fear that packed bars and restaurants could lead to a dangerous increase in the incident.

“This is a very clever virus that breaks all the rules,” said Dr. Umair Shah, Secretary-General of the Harris County Health Department. “We may be sick of this virus, but the virus isn’t sick of us.”

“Someone said the pandemic was out of control,” Mora said. “We are out of control because we are not implementing preventative measures that actually work.”

The video above is from a previous post.

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